Check your Sake

How am I going to get this home?

Is there such thing as a legal smuggler? If you have ever tried to bring alcohol back from a trip to Japan, the idea of a "legal smuggler" might be less of an oxymoron than you might think. It can be quite the process bringing that special bottle of sake home, but worth it in the end if you do it right. The best part is that you can try a local specialty from a small producer that will never reach the scale to export to your home country.

Why Bother?

A bottle of premium junmai daiginjo sake can be purchased in Japan for around 1300 Yen (about $13 Canadian or U.S.). The same bottle in Canada can retail for close to three times the price. While a $26 savings matters little compared to the price of airfare, if you happen to be in Japan anyway, why not make the most of it by transporting a bottle or two home? Caveat Emptor: check your country's customs rules to make sure that you are bringing back no more than the allowable limit.

When to Buy

The best time to buy is before you go to the airport. You will find the widest selection and the best prices at a liquor store (marked by the kanji, 酒店 or 酒). Even if you can't read Japanese, you can use price range (over 1000 yen/720mL bottle) and semaibuai (rice milling percentage) of approximately 50% to help you select a decent bottle.

Be Prepared to Check It

Bubble wrap and box your sake before going to the airport. You must check the bottle with your luggage or you will have to surrender it when you go through security because it contains more than 100mL of fluid. If your bottle is not packaged safely enough, there is a good chance that an airline employee will repackage it for you--they were kind enough to do it for me.

What If You Forget?

IF you bring your bottle through security, then you will be given two choices: surrender it or return to the baggage counter to check your bottle. This is a well-managed but time consuming procedure that you will want to avoid at all costs, especially if your flight is leaving within an hour.

What About Duty Free?

Duty Free is OK under one condition, you are on a direct flight home. If you are catching a connecting flight in a third country, you risk losing that bottle if you don't have a way to get it checked with your luggage between flights. We couldn't even bring juice from one plane to the next, so I can't imagine the process for keeping a bottle of alcohol.

Even if you have a direct flight, the prices look so inflated to me that any tax savings from being "duty free" are a mirage. Of course, if packaging matters more to you than quality and price, you could always spring for a ceramic sumo wrestler bottle. If you go that route, be prepared to use the sake for cooking or heat it before serving. I don't know for a fact that the sake in these types of souvenir bottles is low quality, but the deck is stacked against any sake not sold in a glass container.

Last Reminders

Remember to include your sake on the customs declaration that you will usually fill out while still in the air. If you don't, you'll probably lose it at customs and risk a large fine on top of that. When collecting your baggage, stop by the fragile items counter to get your lovingly transported bottle. Enjoy your well-travelled sake when you get home. You deserve a treat after that ordeal. Kanpai!

Travis Belrose is the author of The Samurai Poet, a work of historical fiction set in 17th century Japan. Learn more here.